


Speaking of Death

by phantomthief_fee



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Demigods, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Originally Posted on Tumblr, References to Norse Religion & Lore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-09 20:45:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19894090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomthief_fee/pseuds/phantomthief_fee
Summary: Eska had seen Bertram's goddess friend around the studio before, but he hadn't expected to be able to talk to her.





	Speaking of Death

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Random_ag](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Random_ag/gifts).



I already wrote my version of Hel meeting [@insane-control-room](https://tmblr.co/mJlb-vW43NaJNACvfy09WfA)‘s Demigod Bertram, but I wanted to write her meeting [@randomwriteronline](https://tmblr.co/m0ZF7KZiT8k_kLHiQ3obKaw)‘s cryptid Eska. So here we go.

Featuring Control’s Bertram briefly.

* * *

The creature now known as Eska knew death. The Spirit of Violent Deaths was a friend to him, after all. And he wasn’t scared of death. Not like other people were. It would hurt, yes, but it provided a sort of peaceful relief at the end of a troubled life. Like his. It was the inevitable end to all things. Eventually, everything was going to die. Die and return to the Earth.

He had seen the woman Bertram said was the goddess Hel come and go. He’d seen her appear from the ground and disappear the same way. Sometimes she brought a dog with her. The dog had an incredibly powerful aura around it, but Eska still wanted to pet it. It was so small and fluffy. Most of the time she came to see Bertram and/or Lacie. She seemed softer when around them.

Today, though, it seemed she was here for Eska. When Bertram arrived in his office, she was waiting with Garm in her arms. Bertram wasn’t even surprised anymore. She just tended to show up. 

“I wish to speak to the boy in the skull mask.” She said. 

**_The one with the two different eyes._** Garm clarified, as if there was another boy in a skull mask in the studio.

“I don’t believe I’m the one you should ask about that.” Bertram sat down at his desk, shuffling some papers. “If you wish to speak with him, you should go and speak with him.”

“Is he not a friend of yours?” Hel asked. 

“Not…particularly,” Bertram replied slowly. “I’m not terribly close to him.”

“Ah, alright.” Hel’s face fell a bit. She’d come to the studio a lot, but she hadn’t ventured outside of Bertram’s work area too often. She didn’t know where anything was or where anyone would be. 

“If you want to find him, I’d look in the Heavenly Toys area on level P,” Bertram suggested, sensing her disorientation. “He often stays near to Kim and Niamh.”

**_Who are those people?_** Garm demanded. **_Their names mean nothing to us._**

“Kim is the small dark-skinned toymaker and Niamh is the one with the octopus tattoo on her back,” Bertram said. “I can assure you, you will know Niamh is around long before you see her.”

“Alright.” Hel stood up, clutching Garm a bit tighter. “Thank you. I may or may not be back.”

“Best of luck!” Bertram called after her. 

It took a bit for her to find the Heavenly Toys area. After a little bit of aimless wandering, an employee politely asked if she was lost. Once she told them where she was going, they were able to point her in the right direction. She was halfway to the area when she suddenly felt a presence to her right. She turned to the vent beside her to find a pair of orange and blue eyes staring at her from a vent. 

“Hello, Eska.” 

Eska didn’t reply, continuing to watch her from the vent. The vent wasn’t all that dark, and Hel could see even in the pitch black, but only his eyes were visible. The rest of his body was just gone.

“Could I speak with you?” She asked. “If you wouldn’t mind. I sense you’re connected with death, and I must admit, it has been a bit since I spoke with another death entity.” There was a beat of silence before Eska replied. 

“…Okay.” He slithered out of the vent, falling to the ground like a ragdoll before standing up. He started to walk away and Hel followed. 

He led her to a secluded room that didn’t look like it got much use. There were a table and some chairs, so it seemed that this was some sort of secret hideout. Eska turned to say something but stopped. His eyes were fixed now on Garm, still nestled in Hel’s arms. 

“Is something wrong?” Hel asked. 

“I pet him.” Eska pointed at Garm, eyes wide. Hel looked down at Garm, who made a very human grumbling sound. 

**_Very well. He may pet me._** Garm braced himself to be manhandled, but Eska’s touch was gentle. His long, deft fingers carded through Garm’s fur, finding just the right places to scratch. Garm’s eyes almost rolled back in his head from sheer bliss. 

**_Oooh. Oh yes. Yes, that is the spot. Up. Up! Oooooh._** He started to excitedly pant as Eska settled down in a chair.

“Impressive.” Hel laughed softly, sitting down beside him. “He doesn’t normally enjoy being petted like that.” Eska made what she assumed to be a happy noise. 

“Do you know the Spirit of Violent Deaths?” He asked after a moment.

“I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of making their acquaintance.” Hel smiled apologetically. “How would you describe them?” Eska paused in his petting. 

“Very big. Very dark blue. With stars all over. Body like a soft velvet jello. Skeletal hands. Head is the skull of a ram.” He made gestures with his hands as he spoke as if he were trying to strengthen the description.

“They sound beautiful.” Hel’s smile was wistful. “Are they kind?”

Eska nodded. “Gentle. Kind. Warm.”

“I’m glad.” She turned her gaze away from him, down to her lap. “So few think of death as kind.” 

Eska frowned, tilting his head to the side as his eyes found her again. “Why?”

“Hm?”

“Why?” Eska repeated. 

“Are you asking why many don’t think of death as kind?”

“Yes.”

“Well…” Hel sighed heavily, folding her hands in her lap. “Death is difficult for the living who remain. They lose people they care about. And so they see death deities as greedy individuals who steal away their family, never to return them.”

“Everything dies eventually,” Eska said. “Can’t escape it.”

“Yes, that is true.” Hel agreed with a weary smile. “Death comes for all things. Even the gods.”

“Are you kind?” Eska asked. His gaze had returned to Garm, who had flipped over onto his back, allowing Eska access to his fluffy belly. Eska was seconds away from burying his face in the fluff.

“I like to think I am.” Hel laughed. “But, well, I suppose personal opinion doesn’t count.” She sighed again. “I try to take care of my wards the best I can.”

“Wards?”

“The souls sent to my domain. I’m in charge of the ‘dishonorable’ dead.” She snorted derisively. “As if only those who die in battle are honorable.” Eska looked over at her. It was hard to tell with his mask, but she was pretty sure he was confused.

“I’m sorry. Did I confuse you?”

He nodded. 

“I should probably explain.” Her expression grew solemn. “In my pantheon, we have three places that take souls. Odin’s Valhalla, my Helheim, and Freyja’s Fólkvangr. Freyja and Odin choose the souls of warriors they deem worthy to join their afterlives. I receive the rest. They call my wards the dishonorable dead. The old, the sick, the wicked. I take all who are unwanted. Because they are not brave warriors who die in battle, the other gods call them dishonorable.”

Eska’s face screwed up in distaste. “That’s stupid.”

“Yes. It is.” She turned her gaze back to her lap, where her hands were worrying with her skirt. “The majority of them have done nothing wrong. Their only crime is that their deaths were deemed…‘wrong’. They’re good people.” A smile crossed her features. “A good portion of them helped to raise me. Odin confined me to Niflheim when I was very young. I hardly ever saw my parents. The dead were all I had.” She paused, seeming to realize where she was. 

“My apologies.” She laughed weakly. “I didn’t mean to burden you with that. I tend to…forget myself sometimes.” Eska shrugged, shoving his face into Garm’s belly fluff. Hel stifled a laugh. A genuine one this time. The children in her domain rather enjoyed doing that as well. Although they usually did it when Garm was the size of a truck. 

“Thank you for listening.” She said. “Most don’t wish to speak with me, given who I am. What I am.” Eska stopped rubbing his face in Garm’s fluff, lifting his eyes to meet hers. He had an intense way of looking at someone as if he could see through to your soul.

“You **are** kind.” He nodded definitively before returning his attention to Garm. 

Hel stared into space for a moment, trying to fight back tears. She was a great and terrible goddess who controlled the balance of life and death, who had power beyond what a normal mortal could imagine. But she was also still the scared little girl who’d been ripped away from her father and cast into a realm she neither knew nor understood. She’d been given a role to play and she’d played it. The heartless queen of the underworld who took and took and let nothing go. She had played that role well, to the point where there were precious few she could talk to honestly anymore. Almost no one looked upon her without fear. But Bertram had not been afraid of her, and neither was this boy. This boy had called her **_kind_**. 

“Thank you.” She managed to whisper once she had herself under control.

“Everyone dies,” Eska said again. “It’s not bad. It’s an end.”

“A good end?”

“An end,” Eska said. “Peaceful end.” 

Hel smiled softly. “What a remarkable creature you are.”

Eska beamed behind his mask. 

**_Is it over?_** Garm looked disappointed that the petting had stopped. He was still panting excitedly. 

“Yes, I think it’s about time we go.” Hel gently took him from Eska. “I very much enjoyed talking with you, Eska. I think I’d like to talk with you again.”

“Okay.” Eska nodded. 

“I’ll bring Garm again the next time I come. And perhaps a skull.”

Eska’s eyes lit up at the prospect of receiving a skull, which elicited another laugh from Hel.

“I’ll see you again.” She then disappeared into the floor, leaving Eska alone.

**Author's Note:**

> More of me self-indulgently writing my version of Hel. I regret nothing.


End file.
